Friday, June 13, 2008

Leonard Auerbach - Sex Tourist Fugitive

According to the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco, Auerbach was accused of travelling to Costa Rica for "child sex tourism" more than 40 times between 2003 and 2007.

Cuba announced Friday it had handed an American accused of travelling abroad to have sex with children over to the United States in a rare sign of judicial cooperation between the two countries.

The Cuban foreign ministry said it had deported to the United States Leonard Auerbach, a California mortgage banker who was pursued by U.S. authorities on charges of repeatedly going to Costa Rica to have sex with minors, and possession of child pornography.

The ministry said Auerbach, 61, arrived in Cuba on April 8 from Mexico "in order to escape U.S. justice."

It said that based on information submitted by U.S. authorities, he was detained in Cuba on May 7, and then handed over due to the "serious" charges against him.

It did not say how Auerbach was transferred to the United States.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco, Auerbach was accused of travelling to Costa Rica for "child sex tourism" more than 40 times between 2003 and 2007.

Auerbach was declared a fugitive after failing to appear in court for arraignment April 9.

He is the fourth American handed by Cuba to U.S. authorities since July 2006, when Raul Castro took over the presidency from his ailing brother Fidel Castro.

In October, Cuba deported John Bradley Egan, who faced charges of bank fraud and identity theft, after the suspect was detained when his yacht suffered mechanical problems in Cuban waters.

In April 2007, Cuban authorities handed over Joseph Adjmi, who had been a U.S. fugitive since 1963, when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for mail fraud.

David Ray Franklin, who stole a plane and fled to Cuba with his son, was handed to the United States in October 2006.

The United States has recognized some Cuban cooperation, but diplomats in Havana said about 70 per cent cases remain.

Cuba has only occasionally handed over suspects to the United States in half a century of communist rule on the island.